The present invention relates to an electrical device, in particular, a switching device or a control device in a motor vehicle.
To sealingly join housing parts and a plug body to one another to prevent the ingress of moisture into the control-device interior, the individual component parts of the control device may be joined to one another by interposing a separating layer made of a flexible seal, as referred to in German Published Patent Application No. 195 16 708. Critical to production, however, are those joints where more than two parts, for example, the two housing parts and the plug body, come into direct contact, since manufacturing and assembly tolerances accumulate in this area. Sealing problems may therefore arise in series production.
It is believed that an exemplary electrical device and method according to the present invention, such as a switching or control device in a motor vehicle, have the advantage of achieving a reliable sealing of the control device towards the outside. This is essentially due to a projection of the plug body engaging with a recess in the one housing part, which is provided with sealing compound, in the join region where more than two component parts come into contact. In this manner, the sealing compound is displaced in a controlled manner in the direction of the other housing part, so that there is a certain volume of sealing compound present in the join region of the three component parts.
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FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a control device for a motor vehicle having an exemplary housing according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a control device in the critical join region.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of part of the housing cover shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 shows the housing cover of FIG. 3 subsequent to the application of a sealing compound.
FIG. 5 shows the housing cover of FIG. 4 showing the placement of the sealing compound in the housing base, without the housing base.